Making cheese is a highly stressful activity – for the cheese that is. 🙂 Depending on the type, some cheeses need to be pressed for 24 hours with 50Lbs of weight.
Previously, I placed the cheese in a large pot and delicately balanced various weights on top. The weights were a combination of water bottles and small barbells.
Since moving to our new apartment, I got a little more creative and decided to build a cheese press. After all, who has $289 to spend on a cheese press? It was a pretty simple exercise, resulting in a wonderful press which makes great, non-lopsided cheese.
What kind of cheese do you make? Can you make Cheddar? Ethan and I keep talking about trying to bring Rennet here to see if we could make a go of it.
Love it! did you design this yourself or are there plans somewhere that i could get a hold of? I understand the crazy juggling act and would like to remedy this!
I (Hubs) designed it by looking at other plans online. It’s not perfect. It is very simple and works better than nothing. Our is just two cutting boards with 1″ holes cut in the corners of one, just large enough for the slightly sanded dowels to fit through. The dowels also fit into partially drilled 1″ holes in the bottom board.
Another plan that I would have like to try (and may still do assuming I can find all the parts) is here: http://www.cheesemaking.com/store/i/is.aspx?path=/images/productimages/PressPlans.jpg&lr=t&bw=800
Make sure the arm on that last plan doesn’t move sideways, or you could end up with a lopsided cheese. Perhaps some sort of bracing to keep it straight…ah the things I could do with a wood shop…or wood for that matter. 🙂
We make all types of cheese. Yes, we make cheddar. It takes at least 3 months before it's ready. The longer it ages the better it is. cheesemaking.com and leeners.com have starter kits. If you can get "fresh milk" from the grocery store, it might work, but there's no guarantee that it's been ultra pasteurized. It's best (and generally cheaper) to get raw milk from a cow and pasteurize it yourself.